onionbagblog

Having sourced (i) broadband and (ii) a swimming pool ahead of the Great Escape (seriously,) next in the hierarchy of needs was to find a decent fruit ‘n veg shop. @AnnaJCowen and I were served splendidly back in Sunny Stockwell with organicdeliverycompant.co.uk.

And so it was with some delight that our box ticking of finding local services was soon blitzed, when we saw the recently opened Cansdale and Ross at the Quay end of the High Street.

Sad to say that Mr Sainsbury’s online is so far supplying us with bulk purchases; a giant multi-national is half decent for washing power, but not so great on Granny Smith’s.

We’re fitting the weekly Cansdale and Ross fruit ‘n veg shop splendidly into our routine. We simply walk to the end of the road, get rather excited about the splendid produce on offer, have some decent local conversation and then settle up the bill.

Wivenhoe locals will probably know Nigel and his partner Lisa as the proprietors of the ace Coffee Shop across the road. It’s the place where @AnnaJCowen first sat down back in May to ponder the house purchase.

The space for the fruit ‘n veg shop is perfect. It all appears slightly cramped and random in there, but then that’s just the antidote to all those soulless online and offline supermarket aisles.

The range on sale covers everything (and more) that you would find in a supermarket. The prices come in slightly under what the big boys are charging as well. Plus with a 10% discount across the road at the Coffee Shop, you can see how true localism genuinely works.

We clock up just under a £10 a week spend, which is great value considering we were paying £22 a fortnight back in South London. No need either for all those random veg box items. I never did understand the point of artichokes.

The produce is locally sourced, cutting down on all those nasty food miles (and easing my online shopping conscience,) not to mention supporting the local farm economy.

It was very decent of Nigel to agree to the brief video piece above. Having packed my bag, I door stepped him and asked for a brief chat. The brevity came about as a queue of eager customers was soon building up.

I keep on pushing Nigel to start selling fresh bread. He’s looking for a local supplier, and so if anyone else knows of any contacts, do speak up in the comments below.

In the meantime I keep on having to import the brilliant @bakermanisbakin’s olive bread from Di Lietos back in Sunny Stockwell, via @AnndJCowen and her weekly London trips.

I’m very happy to help promote any other local businesses via m’blog. They’re not only a great place to shop, but also to gossip…

Support localism.